Because distributed
switches are created and managed centrally on a vCenter Server system, they
make the switch configuration more consistent across ESXi hosts. Centralized
management saves time, reduces mistakes, and lowers operational costs.

Additional features

Distributed switches offer
features that are not available on standard virtual switches. Some of these
features can be useful to the applications and services that are running in the
organization’s infrastructure. For example, NetFlow and port mirroring provide
monitoring and troubleshooting capabilities to the virtual infrastructure.

Consider the following caveats for distributed
switches.

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Distributed switches are not manageable when
vCenter Server is unavailable. vCenter Server therefore becomes a tier one
application.